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Over the Hedge (film)
| screenplay = | starring = | music = Rupert Gregson-Williams | editing = John K. Carr | production companies = DreamWorks Animation | distributor = Paramount Pictures | released = | runtime = 83 minutes | country = United States | language = English | budget = $80 million | gross = $336 million }} 'Over the Hedge' is a 2006 American computer-animated comedy film based on the United Media comic strip of the same name. Produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures, which acquired the live-action DreamWorks studio the same year, the film was directed by Tim Johnson and Karey Kirkpatrick (the latter in his directorial debut), from a screenplay by Len Blum, Lorne Cameron, David Hoselton and Kirkpatrick. Featuring the voices of Bruce Willis, Garry Shandling, Steve Carell, William Shatner, Wanda Sykes and Nick Nolte, the film was released on May 19, 2006 in the United States and earned $336 million on an $80 million budget. It was also released to generally positive reviews and became a commercial success. Plot After RJ (Bruce Willis), a starving raccoon, fails to get snacks from a vending machine, he becomes so desperate that he tries to raid a large food cache belonging to Vincent (Nick Nolte), a hibernating black bear. However, while trying to finish by stealing a can of "Spuddies" potato chips, he wakes Vincent and loses both the food and the red wagon that it is on when a truck runs it over. Hastily, he promises to replace everything by the time Vincent reawakens in a week. Meanwhile, a group of forest animals, led by Verne (Garry Shandling) the turtle, emerge from hibernation to find their food cache nearly empty. They begin foraging but find a large hedge blocking their way. Verne investigates, discovering a human residential community which confuses and frightens him. RJ, who sees the entire commotion, convinces the other animals it's easier to raid the humans' garbage for food rather than forage for it, and they manage to get enough food to keep them from starving. Verne, however, remains wary, especially after homeowner Gladys Sharp (Allison Janney) discovers the animals in her yard, chases them out through the hedge, and hires VermTech exterminator Dwayne LaFontant (Thomas Haden Church) to keep them out. Worried for his family's safety, Verne decides to return the food to the humans. RJ tries to stop him, resulting in an argument between the two. This attracts the attention of a playful dog named Nugent (Brian Stepanek), who chases them across several lawns before all of the food the animals gathered is destroyed. RJ then blames Verne who, while trying to defend himself, makes a comment that hurts the others' feelings. RJ helps Verne reconcile with the others. He also discovers that Gladys has just restocked her pantry with a large food supply for an upcoming party and concocts a plan to get past the exterminator-planted boobytraps in her yard. Working together under cover of darkness, the animals get the food. RJ and Verne get into another argument, again over a can of "Spuddies", during which Verne and the others learn of RJ's true motives. Gladys wakes up, discovers the animals in her house, and calls VermTech. Dwayne arrives and traps the animals except for RJ, who escapes with the food. RJ takes the food to a now-awake Vincent, but when the latter points out and praises RJ's treachery, the raccoon decides to sacrifice the food to save his friends. This angers Vincent, who chases RJ as he pursues Dwayne's truck. Verne is happy to see RJ again but the others no longer trust him since he abandoned them. They nearly thwart RJ's efforts to help before Verne finally convinces them otherwise. The animals then subdue Dwayne and turn his truck toward home, but the truck goes out of control and demolishes Gladys' house. The animals hide in the hedge, trapped by Vincent on one side and Dwayne and Gladys on the other. RJ and Verne get an idea to give Hammy (Steve Carell) the hyperactive squirrel his first ever can of energy drink, which puts him into overdrive. Exceeding the speed of light, Hammy activates an illegal trap that Dwayne had installed (at Gladys' insistence, while warning her that it was illegal in every state except for Texas), capturing Vincent, Dwayne and Gladys. Gladys and Vincent are taken into custody by the police and a wilderness preservation group, respectively, while Dwayne escapes after taking advantage of Gladys' attempt at fighting a police officer and resisting arrest, only to encounter the same Rottweiler that chased RJ and Verne earlier. Back in the forest, Verne tells RJ that if he'd explained what he was trying to do in the first place, the others would have helped because "that's what families do," and welcomes him back to the family. The animals also find that while Hammy was in his caffeine-charged state, he had refilled their food cache with nuts to satisfy them for the year. Voice cast at the film's premiere at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival]] * Bruce Willis as RJ, a raccoon who is duplicitous, selfish, a con artist, and extremely intelligent. Despite his hard outer shell, he is revealed to have a sensitive personality, developing feelings of guilt over using his new-found companions to his own ends. Jim Carrey was originally set to voice the character, but in October 2004, he left the project and was replaced with Willis. * Garry Shandling as Verne, a naturally cynical ornate box turtle, the leader of the foragers. He has his own ways of doing the daily tasks, but his world is turned upside-down when RJ introduces his free-spirited lifestyle into the mix. Though Verne genuinely cares for his family, he can be patronizing. His shell falls off regularly and is laughed at. * Steve Carell as Hammy, a hyperactive American red squirrel, whose mouth moves as fast as his feet and loves cookies. He is naïve and childish in nature, with an extremely short attention span. * Wanda Sykes as Stella, a short-tempered, sassy striped skunk with an unhappy love-life and Tiger's love interest. * Eugene Levy as Lou, a North American porcupine father, Penny's husband, and family patriarch with an overly friendly and optimistic attitude. * Catherine O'Hara as Penny, the porcupine family mother, Lou's wife, and matriarch; she serves as a ground between their family and the other animals. * Shane Baumel, Sami Kirkpatrick, and Madison Davenport as Spike, Bucky and Quillo, Lou and Penny's three identical children. They're big on video games and are the most enthusiastic about exploring the world beyond the hedge. at the film's premiere at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival]] * William Shatner and Avril Lavigne as Ozzie and Heather, a Virginia opossum father and daughter who see the world from different points of view; Ozzie often embarrasses Heather when he feigns death to get away from danger. * Omid Djalili as Tiger, a Persian cat; his full Persian name is "Prince Tigerius Mahmoud Shabazz." He falls in love with Stella when she is disguised as a cat. * Nick Nolte as Vincent, an American black bear; RJ's former friend to whom RJ owes food, motivating the story. He makes a cameo in Bee Movie. * Allison Janney as Gladys Sharp, president of the Camelot Estates Home Owners Association. She is disgusted by animals and is strict on H.O.A. rules. * Thomas Haden Church as Dwayne LaFontant, an over-zealous human pest exterminator hired by Gladys. He can detect the species of any animal that has recently been in the area by smell. He spoofs the Terminator. * Brian Stepanek as Nugent, a playful Rottweiler whose only intelligible word is "Play!", other than barking. Two minor human characters, appearing during the dog chase scene, were voiced by Lee Bienstock and Sean Yazbeck, two participants on The Apprentice 5 as part of a reward for winning a task. Reception Box office On opening weekend, the film was in second place to The Da Vinci Code, but its gross of $38,457,003 did not quite live up to DreamWorks Animation's other titles released over the past few years. The film had a per-theater average of $9,474 from 4,059 theaters. In its second weekend, the film dropped 30% to $27,063,774 for a $6,612 average from an expanded 4,093 theaters and finishing third, behind X-Men: The Last Stand and The Da Vinci Code. Since it was Memorial Day Weekend, the film grossed a total of $35,322,115 over the four-day weekend, resulting in only an 8% slide. In its third weekend, the film held well with a 24% drop to $20,647,284 and once again placing in third behind The Break-Up and X-Men: The Last Stand, for a $5,170 average from 3,993 theaters. The film closed on September 4, 2006 after 112 days of release, grossing $155,019,340 in the United States and Canada, along with $180,983,656 overseas for a worldwide total of $336,002,996. Produced on an $80 million budget, the film was a commercial success. Critical response On the film-critics aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has received 75% positive reviews, based on 170 reviews with an average of 6.8/10. The site's consensus states: "Even if it's not an animation classic, Over the Hedge is clever and fun, and the jokes cater to family members of all ages." On another aggregator, Metacritic, the film has a rating of 67/100, indicating "generally favorable." Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale. Critic Frank Lovece of Film Journal International found that, "DreamWorks' slapstick animated adaptation of the philosophically satiric comic strip ... is a lot of laughs and boasts a much tighter story than most animated features." Ken Fox of TVGuide.com called it "a sly satire of American 'enough is never enough' consumerism and blind progress at the expense of the environment. It's also very funny, and the little woodland critters that make up the cast are a kiddie-pleasing bunch". Accolades Release The film was screened as a "work-in-progress" on April 29, 2006, at the Indianapolis International Film Festival, and it premiered on April 30, 2006, in Los Angeles. Nick Nolte, Bruce Willis, Avril Lavigne, Garry Shandling, Wanda Sykes, Catherine O'Hara and Steve Carell attended the premiere. The film was theatrically released in the United States on May 19, 2006. In select New York and Los Angeles theatres, it was accompanied by a DreamWorks Animation's animated short film First Flight. The film was also screened out of competition on May 21, 2006, at the Cannes Film Festival. Home media Over the Hedge was released on DVD by DreamWorks Animation's newly formed home entertainment division and Paramount Home Entertainment on October 17, 2006. A short film based on Over the Hedge, titled Hammy's Boomerang Adventure, was released with the DVD. The film was released on Blu-ray on February 5, 2019 by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment as a Walmart exclusive,https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Over-the-Hedge-Blu-ray/42463/ and was subsequently given a wider release on June 4. Soundtrack The soundtrack for the film was released on May 16, 2006 by Epic Records. Rupert Gregson-Williams composed the original score, while Ben Folds contributed three original songs, along with a rewrite of his song "Rockin' the Suburbs" and a cover of The Clash's "Lost in the Supermarket." | producer = Hans Zimmer | prev_title = | prev_year = | next_title = | next_year = }} Track list: | title6 = Let's Call It Steve | length6 = 3:40 | extra6 = Rupert Gregson-Williams | title7 = Hammy Time | length7 = 2:28 | extra7 = Michael Whitlock | title8 = Still | length8 = 2:38 | extra8 = Ben Folds | title9 = Play? | length9 = 1:49 | extra9 = Rupert Gregson-Williams | title10 = Rockin' the Suburbs | length10 = 4:57 | extra10 = Ben Folds | title11 = The Inside Heist | length11 = 7:38 | extra11 = Rupert Gregson-Williams | title12 = RJ Rescues His Family | length12 = 4:18 | extra12 = Rupert Gregson-Williams | title13 = Still (Reprise) | length13 = 6:07 | extra13 = Ben Folds }} Video games A video game based on the film was released on May 9, 2006. Developed by Edge of Reality, Beenox and Vicarious Visions it was published by Activision for PlayStation 2, Microsoft Windows, Xbox, GameCube, Nintendo DS and Game Boy Advance. Three different versions of Over the Hedge: Hammy Goes Nuts! were released by Activision in the fall of 2006: a miniature golf game for Game Boy Advance, an action adventure game for Nintendo DS, and a platform game for PlayStation Portable. Sequel In May 2007, DreamWorks Animation CEO, Jeffrey Katzenberg, said that despite the film exceeding The Wall Street Journal's expectations during the second consecutive quarter of 2007, the film would not get a sequel due to the box office performance of the film, saying "It was close. An almost." In October 2010, an article was posted on the official Over the Hedge blog, explaining what would happen if a sequel was made, saying that if the sequel didn't perform as well as the first one, then DreamWorks could lose money, and that a sequel probably wouldn't happen until DreamWorks Animation was bought by a large studio, which eventually happened in 2016 when NBCUniversal bought DreamWorks Animation. References Notes # In July 2014, the film's distribution rights were purchased by DreamWorks Animation from Paramount Pictures and transferred to 20th Century Fox. The rights were moved to Universal Pictures in 2018 after the buyout of DreamWorks Animation by Comcast/NBCUniversal. 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